Bardry Salaman
General Bardry Salaman was a Gear officer who was the head of the Coalition of Ordered Governments armed forces during the last days of the Pendulum Wars and during the first year of the Locust War. He played a key part in the Hammer of Dawn counterattack, but became depressed by the amount of civilian deaths it had caused. This caused Chairman Richard Prescott to relocate him and his wife to Azura, and report that he had committed suicide to the rest of the COG. At Azura, he was tasked with formulating long-term strategies to use against the Locust. Biography Pendulum Wars Helping Adam Fenix In the seventy-fifth year of the Pendulum Wars, Salaman was serving as a General, and was friends with Professor Adam Fenix of the Defense Research Agency, who asked Salaman to let him know when and where his son, Pvt. Marcus Fenix, was deployed. When Marcus was sent to the Acastu Imulsion Fields in Dushin with C Company of the 26th Royal Tyran Infantry, Salaman called Adam to let him know, but only reached his assistant, Dr. Nevil Estrom. Salaman told Nevil to let Adam know he had called, and that it was about a personal matter, not one related to the project they were working on. Adam later called him back, and Salaman told him about Marcus' deployment. Adam thanked him for letting him know, and Salaman told him if they could not trust him with classified information, they could not trust anyone.Gears of War: Unsaid Testing the Hammer of Dawn Five years later, Salaman had become Chief of the COG Defense Staff and overall commander of the Coalition of Ordered Governments army. He went to the Garadaner Test Ranges on an island off of the northeastern Tyran coast to view a test of the Hammer of Dawn orbital platforms. He watched from a Packhorse as the test zone was annihilated by two low-power beams, and was highly pleased with the result. He got out of his Packhorse and congratulated Adam on the successful test, but noted that he did not seem too pleased with the result. Salaman asked him why he was not happy about having developed a way to end the war, and Adam told him that it would end this war, but that it did not guarantee the future. Salaman contacted KR Seven-Three as it flew over the test zone, and asked the pilot how it looked from above. The pilot told him that the Hammer of Dawn had created one hell of a hole, and that he could not wait to see it used on the Indies.Gears of War: Promise Me Ending the War Salaman later met with Adam and Chairman Tomas Dalyell in the Chairman's office in the House of Sovereigns to discuss how to use the Hammer of Dawn. Adam assured them that the Hammer could hit any target, moving or static, and asked if they were going to give the Union of Independent Republics any warning before using the Hammer. Salaman said he would rather have the element of surprise on their side, but Adam said that they should ask for their surrender first, as it was the right thing to do. Dalyell agreed, and offered Premier Yori Deschenko a chance to surrender or risk "decisive action" when the COG used the Hammer. Deschenko turned down the offer, and a week later Salaman met with Dalyell at a cafe to discuss the first target. Salaman selected the UIR Third Fleet, which was giving them trouble by bombarding the city of Bonbourg in the Ostri Republic, which had been captured by the COG. Salaman went to the COG command building in Jacinto City and ordered the Hammer to be used, and received reports from a COG navy vessel as four UIR vessels were destroyed by the Hammer in mere seconds. Salaman was in awe of how well the Hammer worked, and within a week after the attack, the UIR decided to surrender to the COG rather than risk complete destruction. Locust War Hammer of Dawn Counterattack However, the COG's victory was short lived, when six weeks later, the Locust emerged and began overrunning all of Sera. Salaman continued to command the remaining COG forces, but lost more and more ground every day, and Dalyell died of a heart attack not long into the war. One year after E-Day, Salaman, along with new Chairman Richard Prescott and Director of Special Forces Col. Victor Hoffman, had the command keys for the Hammer of Dawn. One day, Salaman was summoned to attend a meeting with Prescott, Hoffman, Attorney General Milon Audley, and Professor Adam Fenix. He gave Prescott his assessment that they would be defeated and overrun by the Locust in less than a month. When Hoffman agreed with his assessment, Prescott announced his decision to use the Hammer of Dawn in an attempt to slow the Locust down and deny them supplies from captured cities and bases. Although he was horrified at the amount of people that would be killed, Salaman agreed that it was their only option, and they put together a plan to withdraw as many civilians and Gears to the Jacinto Plateau as they could. As they left Prescott's office, Salaman told Hoffman he was going to go get a drink to help deal with the actions they were taking.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 64-74 The next day, he attended another meeting where he, Hoffman, and Prescott planned the evacuation in more detail. Hoffman noticed that Salaman had started to look ill, and kept clutching his chest.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 126-129 On the day of the Hammer strike, Salaman was the second to put his key into the startup console, after Hoffman and before Prescott.Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant pg 292-293 Faked Death After the Hammer of Dawn counterattack, Salaman fell into depression. One hundred and ninety days after the Hammer strikes, it was reported that he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. This left Hoffman as the new Chief of the COG Defense Staff and his subordinates Mjr. Aleksander Reid and Mjr. McLintock to support him, both of whom were equally disliked and unimaginative. Most of the army was shocked by his death, and mourned him greatly. However, Salaman's suicide was faked, and he willingly had Prescott secretly relocate him and his wife to the hidden island of Azura to live in peace,Gears of War: The Slab pg 317 which shocked Adam and Dr.Nevil Estrom when they were relocated there in 10 A.E. Bardry continued to work on devising long term strategies against the Locust for Prescott, since both thought that Hoffman worked better handling the day to day situation on the mainland.Gears of War: The Slab pg 350 It is likely that he was killed in 17 A.E. during the Queen's Guard invasion of Azura, as they killed everyone from Scientists to Onyx Guards. Personality and Traits Salaman was a well-liked figure in the Coalition of Ordered Governments Army, having led them to victory in the Pendulum Wars. However, he was unable to live with himself after helping carry out the Hammer of Dawn counterattack, and accepted being relocated to Azura instead of continuing to command the army. Appearances *''Unsaid'' *''Promise Me'' *''Jacinto's Remnant'' *''Coalition's End'' *''The Slab'' References Category:Characters Category:COG Category:Gear Soldier Category:Males Category:Pendulum Wars veterans